Man auctions back on eBay

A WILSONS Creek man who recently tried to sell his wife's ashes on eBay is now auctioning his own back.

In a desperate attempt to clear the medical debts arising from his late wife's cancer treatment, Ash Mackinnon has set up an eBay auction that offers the highest-bidding company the chance to have their product or logo publicly tattooed on his back.

The single father-of-two said he felt like a 'bit of a prostitute', but the very real threat of losing his house had forced him to do it.

He hopes to raise $80,000 through his back auction to pay for the trips he and his wife took to the USA for a cancer treatment called Cyberknife, which is currently not available in Australia. He is also trying to raise awareness of the Cyberknife treatment, which he believes would have saved his wife's life had they discovered it earlier.

The non-invasive, painless treatment uses image-guided robotics to target and destroy tumours with beams of high-energy radiation. Unlike chemotherapy, there are no unpleasant side effects and patients can return to normal activities immediately.

According to Mr Mackinnon, his wife Leah had the treatment twice on her nine brain tumours and responded well. However, she died of liver failure six months later.

Cyberknife is not available in Australia and since his wife's death three years ago he has been lobbying to bring it here.

As part of his awareness campaign, he has been selling copies of his wife's brain scans on eBay for the past six months.

He has also set up a Facebook site called 'Bring the Cyberknife treatment to Australia', which has more than 650 members.

Mr Mackinnon has become a point of contact for hundreds of cancer sufferers looking for alternative treatment options, and receives calls and emails from up to 20 people a week. But the financial pressure is taking its toll, and he is finding it increasingly difficult to meet the repayments on his mortgage and to pay off the $80,000 worth of medical bills that were mostly put on credit cards.

In June he tried to clear his debts by advertising his wife's ashes on eBay, but the site's administrators banned the sale.